Just made the mistake of tuning into BBC Radio Berkshire....

Forbury Lion · by **Forbury Lion** » 29 Apr 2007 11:27

re: ISDN, You can save the taxpayer alot of dosh if you can use ADSL over a standard BT line.

zac naloen · by **zac naloen** » 29 Apr 2007 11:30

ISDN is slow and unnecessarily expensive.... it would be cheaper just to use a broad band connection...

Forbury Lion · by **Forbury Lion** » 29 Apr 2007 11:31

Can I suggest you don't try and make a change until the non footy season in case it goes wrong!

Ollie · by **Ollie** » 29 Apr 2007 11:44

I'm no broadcast engineer but as explained in the BBC article to which Row Z and I both linked, ADSL doesn't work in the same way as ISDN and doesn't offer the same standard in terms of quality and reliability. I'm sure our engineers have tricks up their sleeves but from what I can tell, it's not an immediate threat.

zac naloen · by **zac naloen** » 29 Apr 2007 12:05

Ollie I'm no broadcast engineer but as explained in the BBC article to which Row Z and I both linked, ADSL doesn't work in the same way as ISDN and doesn't offer the same standard in terms of quality and reliability. I'm sure our engineers have tricks up their sleeves but from what I can tell, it's not an immediate threat.

Well yeh, ISDN is your own independant line so you have full access to the bandwidth. ADSL is shared for general users (which is what is being discussed in the article).

But businesses can "lease" ADSL lines in the same way ISDN lines are leased removing those problems.

Ollie · by **Ollie** » 29 Apr 2007 13:20

It's not quite that simple from the point of view of the entire BBC. A lot of things like this are controlled centrally for the entire corporation and definitely aren't the domain of reporters like me! But we'll see.

Anyway, returning briefly to touch on the topic of the thread, you ought to be able to hear the Maidenhead play-off at Kings Lynn online with BBC Norfolk.

floyd__streete · by **floyd__streete** » 29 Apr 2007 14:59

Ollie At the moment I'm trying to work out how we'll cover the play-off game at Kings Lynn on Tuesday. I doubt there'll be live commentary (believe me if we had the resources, we'd do it) but I'll get a post-match interview with Drax (Hippolyte) at the very least.

Cheers for the reply Ollie, appreciated. Will you have updates from the game? I shan't be in a position to listen online to BBC Radio Norfolk on the night!

AthleticoSpizz · by **AthleticoSpizz** » 29 Apr 2007 20:36

Good Luck Johnson and the Magpies

Whatever coverage available will be appreciated Ollie.

Can't see 210 or 107 even knowing where Maidenhead is.....meantime, some of us (read the Non League Paper and) are interested in the surrounding counties teams.

Ollie · by **Ollie** » 29 Apr 2007 21:03

Oddly enough I've just been reading the Non-League Paper.

Anyway - I can't promise we'll have anything. It's a hell of a journey to get a reporter there (and we're thin on the ground as far as they're concerned on Tuesday - I'm not supposed to be in, for example), and there are issues with getting fans on air from the ground by phone in what is normally a fairly relaxed music programme. But I will try to push for some form of coverage, even if it's just asking the presenter to read out the score if he can find it, because it's an important game.

By the way I did an interview with Basingstoke boss Francis Vines earlier. They somehow scrambled to safety in Conf South despite looking destined for relegation almost all season - he's a very happy man. It'll be on the website tomorrow.

AthleticoSpizz · by **AthleticoSpizz** » 29 Apr 2007 21:10

Ollie Oddly enough I've just been reading the Non-League Paper.

Anyway - I can't promise we'll have anything. It's a hell of a journey to get a reporter there (and we're thin on the ground as far as they're concerned on Tuesday - I'm not supposed to be in, for example), and there are issues with getting fans on air from the ground by phone in what is normally a fairly relaxed music programme. But I will try to push for some form of coverage, even if it's just asking the presenter to read out the score if he can find it, because it's an important game.

By the way I did an interview with Basingstoke boss Francis Vines earlier. They somehow scrambled to safety in Conf South despite looking destined for relegation almost all season - he's a very happy man. It'll be on the website tomorrow.

Thanx

Compo's Hat · by **Compo's Hat** » 30 Apr 2007 00:30

On the subject of Basingstoke... why do you cover them, seeing as they're in Hampshire?

Ollie · by **Ollie** » 30 Apr 2007 11:24

Because for one reason or another, BBC local radio boundaries don't follow county boundaries. Things like the locations of transmitters play a part in it, I think (again this is all a bit beyond my ken, I'm a lowly reporter and no engineer). So parts of South Oxfordshire and parts of North Hampshire are ours to cover. If you live in Henley or Nettlebed, we're your local station, not BBC Oxford - and if you live in Basingstoke it's us, not Solent.

This can make things a bit tricky. I've recently had a couple of quite aggressive emails from a gentleman who thinks we're too Berkshire-centric, and who wants us to change the name of the station to reflect the fact we cover Basingstoke too. I'd actually be quite interested to know, from a sports point of view, if you guys think we get the balance okay - not just football but we try to cover ice hockey in Bracknell, Slough and Basingstoke as well, etc etc.

zac naloen · by **zac naloen** » 30 Apr 2007 12:23

I think the Balance is just fine.

You are BBC Radio Berkshire and your coverage is just fine as far as i'm concerned, But your transmitter must be pretty powerful I can pick you guys up just fine in Southampton whenever I go down there.

Solent I can't pick up much further north than Winchester though.

Barry the bird boggler · by **Barry the bird boggler** » 30 Apr 2007 13:32

Ollie

The balance is not bad. Could be slightly more coverage on the senior non league sides (i.e. Step 4 of the Pyramid and above) with perhaps a non league game of the day being followed on a Saturday but overall the balance is OK but then I remember the days of Thames Valley FM when everything seemed to based around Oxford and Banbury!

Technically I would be interested to know why when you head towards Bagshot the reception for BBCBerks is appalling yet when I go to Salisbury its like being in Reading. I would also like to point out that BBC Southern Counties appear to broadcast on 104.6 in this area which seems to cause no end of problems with intereference along the Surrey border (and is particularly frustrating when I head round the M25 to Watford and find I can get it clearer than Berkshire).

Ollie · by **Ollie** » 30 Apr 2007 13:40

At this rate I'll have to get our engineer on HNA for a Q&A session. As far as I know the trouble in Bagshot/interference with Southern Counties is all to do with where transmitters have historically been located and changes in the elevation of the land.

Come to think of it our engineer is a mad Reading fan anyway so he's probably on here. Martyn - explain why we have trouble in Bagshot!

Royal Lady · by **Royal Lady** » 30 Apr 2007 16:48

How do you get to be a radio presenter? And I would have suggested Norfolk Royal as your "man on the scene in Kings Lynn" but he'll just keep trying to advertise his carrots, so I won't suggest him.

zac naloen · by **zac naloen** » 30 Apr 2007 16:54

Ollie At this rate I'll have to get our engineer on HNA for a Q&A session. As far as I know the trouble in Bagshot/interference with Southern Counties is all to do with where transmitters have historically been located and changes in the elevation of the land.

Come to think of it our engineer is a mad Reading fan anyway so he's probably on here. Martyn - explain why we have trouble in Bagshot!

Actually Ollie, I'm probably one of the few who would like that.. I nearly got into that field myself

Royal Lady · by **Royal Lady** » 30 Apr 2007 16:56

zac naloen
Ollie At this rate I'll have to get our engineer on HNA for a Q&A session. As far as I know the trouble in Bagshot/interference with Southern Counties is all to do with where transmitters have historically been located and changes in the elevation of the land.

Come to think of it our engineer is a mad Reading fan anyway so he's probably on here. Martyn - explain why we have trouble in Bagshot!

Actually Ollie, I'm probably one of the few who would like that.. I nearly got into that field myself

The field in Bagshot where the transmitter is?

zac naloen · by **zac naloen** » 30 Apr 2007 17:02

Royal Lady
zac naloen
Ollie At this rate I'll have to get our engineer on HNA for a Q&A session. As far as I know the trouble in Bagshot/interference with Southern Counties is all to do with where transmitters have historically been located and changes in the elevation of the land.

Come to think of it our engineer is a mad Reading fan anyway so he's probably on here. Martyn - explain why we have trouble in Bagshot!

Actually Ollie, I'm probably one of the few who would like that.. I nearly got into that field myself
The field in Bagshot where the transmitter is?

Yes RL, the field in Bagshot.

Royal Lady · by **Royal Lady** » 30 Apr 2007 17:02

Sorry.

Just made the mistake of tuning into BBC Radio Berkshire....

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